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Borneo and Indochina Adventure

October - November 2016
A 53-day adventure by Amie's Adventures Read more
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  • Amie's AdventuresBorneo and Indochina Adventure
    Day 11

    phase 3

    October 14, 2016 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Dear travel journal,
    Left the peraya longhouse today. Up for breaky, got packed, over the bamboo bridge and met Alvin in the peraya village. First stop was up to the traditional bidayu land where the 13 tribes originated. From the original village (longhouse and village are apparently quite interchangeable terms) the 13 tribes spread out and moved back down river. They started down river and as the iban and Chinese moved in during the 1800s they slowly moved up the mountains and away from the rivers which their enemies thought if they block off and trap the bidayu up the mountain, they will win. But the bidayuh are clever and excellent at living of the land. There are areas up in the lime stone mountain ranges where the water never dries out. The bidayuh people had lots of knowledge on the supernatural beliefs of the iban and other enemies and they used that. For example there is a tree called a fire plant. That when the leaf of the plant is rubbed on an area where they know people Will be leaning etc, and it makes it feel Like your skin is on fire. There are also some tribes that are carnivores or drink blood, also things that would spread through word of mouth and keep people away from tribes. We are here to look through the village and talked a lot about the traditional head hunters. The peraya village people - binyewa tribe- have moved away from the head hunter traditions and although they remember the traditions of the tribe warriors annually taking the skulls through all 13 villages and over the roofs of every house in each village within a 24 hour period as form of unity and remembrance of the old traditions they no long conduct the ceremonies or have the head houses sealed. To preserve the skulls they would submerge them in the river for a few weeks, then boil the skulls before placing in the skull houses. Out the front of each head house is a small platform that is used to place an offering to the spirits of the owners of the skulls. Other tribes such as the sadong tribe that Christina belongs to have a sealed headhouse that is only opened once a year when their annual skull ceremony is done. Its complete taboo to open the skull house or show the skulls to outsiders. After seeing some of the site of the old village we jumped back in the van and headed to kuching. Back at basaga we went through our bags and collected things we had all run out of (mostly drugs and money for everyone) and then into kuching for lunch. Back to the sahabat cafe for naarn bread with lental dip and chicken for lunch. Then lots of pictures with the guys in the store and back in the van headed to phase 3. It rained pretty heavy while we were leaving the restaurant and one of the guys from the store walked us out to the car with an umbrella which was awesome of him. Waved goodbye and we were on our way. The weather cleared up heaps on the drive and we had to cross on a little barge which only took about 10 mins. Which was awesome. What wasn't so awesome is we did see a local at one point walking along the road with a macaque tidied to a piece of rope who was pulling and trying to get away. A couple of hours later we arrived in a small town and all piled out at a little pier. The Malay chief meenad of the telok serabang village greeted us. We then Packed all of our food stores and bags into two speed boats and headed off across the south China sea to telok serabang. The sunset from the boat was amazing. As we got to the beach front we jumped out and collected our stuff and walked up to camp. The water was absolutely amazing. It was soon warm, like warm bath water. As we are walking up the beach we could hear chanting. The religion here is Muslim and there is a mosque not far away in the main village and chanting can be heard whenever they are preying, usually this time of day. Our camp has two bamboo/wood longhouses. The one on the right has a wrap around veranda with chairs out the front and a tap at the front steps to wash your feet. When you walk in there are two rooms, one either side where Alvin and the chief sleep. Past the rooms to an open kitchen area with little toilet area off to one side. Opposite the first house is a second that has 10 rooms, each which can house 2 people, with a veranda at each end, open tops of the walls and curtains as doors. Split off into twos again got our stuff in and all sat down at the long table that's between the two houses. At the front of the table Is a little raised open hut and behind the table is a little outdoor sink and kitchen and 2 toilet / shower blocks. 4 showers (including one outdoor closer to the beach) and 3 separate toilets. As we all sat down at the table the chief cut the top of a coconut and stuck a straw through the little hole, and we all sat around and were introduced to the chief properly and chatted about our plans for our beach stay. This area is literally a short journey to the Indonesian boarder and open to the south China sea where turtles and terapins are frequently laying their eggs along the beaches and being poached. The hope is that by increasing Volunteer presence in this area that poachers will be deterred from coming to the beaches. And if they do we should invite them in for a meal and have a chat about conservation and sustainable hunting. After our chat we had dinner, cleaned up, showered and went for a walk along the beach front. The tide was out so we got to have a good look through the rock pools and saw the fishes and crabs and shells and all sorts of cute little things. Then all of a sudden calam comes over with his hand in the air and blood running down his arm saying he cut his finger. So back up to the beach huts and callam tells alvin whose response was 'wheres amie she will fix it' lol. Turns out I'm the group medic. Which is kinda true, I have fixed cuts, removed splinters, handed out creams, panadol and antihistamines. We washed callams hand and cleaned his wound, covered it with opsite spray and I put a cover over it. Then a few of us sat around chatting for ages. While we were chatting this cute, very healthy ginger tabby, who is super vocal came over and said hello to everyone and we had big cuddles. Its like midnight so its time to crash. I then got myself sorted for bed and cleaned my feet and realised that when I kicked my toes on the beach I had actually sliced my toe as well. Patched myself up, got my mossie net sorted and climbed into bed.Read more

  • Amie's AdventuresBorneo and Indochina Adventure
    Day 12

    camp commando

    October 15, 2016 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Dear travel journal,
    Today was a long day. Good but long. A few alarms went off at 5.30am for people to get up and watch the sunrise on the beach. After sitting up till midnight chatting I was pretty tired but couldn't get back to sleep. So I got up and joined jason, the boys, and Julie on the beach. Unfortunately it was super cloudy, so although it was getting sunnier we couldn't actually see the sunrise. So Jason and I just walked down the beach and looked around for a bit. Back at camp we had some tea and got sorted for the day, then I found the cat and we had big cuddles. He is such a cuddle tart, rolls over and loves his belly scratched and under his chin scratched. He doesn't have a name, so I have nicknamed him 'cricket' because he is constantly curling and vocal. Apparently there used to be a mum and bub who lived at camp but cricket chased them and everything else creppy crawly out of camp. Then everyone else slowly woke up, we had breaky and got sorted for the day. Once we had our hats and water we jumped in the speed boat and headed over to camp commando. Eventually camp commando will be known as the check in port, where people who come to the beach will have to sign in and it will be explained that they are in a national park and hunting is prohibited. The eventual plan will be that volunteers and zoology and ecology students will man the hut at the camp year round so that there is a constant volunteer presence. It was Low tied when we were heading over to the end of the beach and mangroves so we had to jump over board and we walked the last couple of kms up the beach and into the mangrove camp which you can't see at all from the Beach. Up in the mangrove and back in a clearing there is the start of a hut, the frame is up but thats about it. The plans are pretty cool. It will sleep 10, have a kitchen out the back and a toilet block a little ways away. There is also a natural well at the site which has been there for 3 generations. There is a father son team building the site. Eddie the dad is 30 and his son romi is 16 (yep do that math). They are just using a chainsaw and bolts and cutting everything they need from their environment around them. Romi went to school until he was 12 And now he is his dads apprentice. The locals here have a saying 'If you don't work you don't eat'. So from a young age they go to work. After morning tea we headed down to the mangrove river entrance and helped put in the stumps of the new jetty. Which were seriously just tree trunks with a point, chain sawed into one end that were lifted and swung backwards and forward which makes the hole bigger and the pole sink further. At one point to add extra weight We tied two poles together and callam stood on the pole tied at angle to the post and we rocked it to help sink it. Once the poles where in the tied had come right in and the chief got the boat and brought it down the start of the 'jetty' and we headed back to camp. Back at camp the tied was right in and we jumped out and unpacked the boats. We put all our stuff down and had lunch and then went down to the beach and swam for like 4 hours. We swam around and played catch with a small coconut for ages, all 10 of us playing around which was awesome. We even saw white belly sea eagles fighting over and little fishes and crabs swiming/skittering around. After we got out of the water we headed back into camp and ate some Bubor kachang (sweet pea and lentil soup) which was like a sweet pea and ham soup. And then we had some down time. I did some washing and had a shower and got my bag organised and fixed the hole in my mossie net. In a lot of down time Sam and callam have been playing with fahmi one of the locals children. He is 6 years old and very energetic, its quite cute and entertaining to watch. We all sat around chatting for a bit, drinking tea and Milo while chatting. There is a cement path that runs parallel to the beach the length of the village, down past our camp and to the other Houses. People have been going up and down all day both walking and on mopeds and bikes. A few people in the morning and afternoon where coming and going to work, mostly surveyors. And some people have gone past with rifles to go hunting. Sam and callam went walking this arvo and ran into some hunters who invited them to sit and they drank vodka and ate deer meat. They asked the boys why we were here and they said conservation and turtle awareness to which they responded that they eat turtle eggs but usually leave 60% of the eggs. Both turtle eggs and deer are not meant to be hunted in the national park. Changing the views and habits of the locals is going to be the hardest bit of everything. Alvin had received a text from the jungle chief after we left, which he got us all together and read out, it said - "I was right to organise the washing of the feet ceremony for these people and I can't remember in my life time anyone doing this ceremony. I hope they will come again, I miss them very very much." Its very humbling and a big thing for these people to show emotion like that. It really is amazing. Then we had dinner, cleaned up and headed out for a night walk in the shallows at 9pm cause that's when low tied was. Alvin wasn't feeling great so he went to bed early. Before he went to bed we filmed Alvin talking in malay telling our guide to walk slowly, point out things, name them in English if he can and come back in an hour. Our tour guides name was pak (uncle) zuki (he was always on the boat and around helping the cheif as our guide). We saw lots of crabs, a little jelly fish squishy thing, little fishes and Stingray holes. Apparently a few weeks ago the chief got a stingray barb in his foot but thankfully his wet shoes took the brunt of it so its healing up well. The moon was full which was pretty. It did however mean it was super bright. When its dark apparently you can see helps of bioluminescent Dino flagella in the water when your playing in it. The movement you make in the water moves the dino flagella making them glow. And when its dark but the sky is super clear you can see the milky way really well. Both would have been amazing. We also saw some guys way out in the shallows with torches, who were apparently searching for sand crabs. The tide levels here are amazing. The high tide comes right up the vegetation about 100 meters from our long houses and when its low tide its right down about an extra 500meters + out. The water is soon warm its like being in a warm bath tub. After the beach we all headed back to camp, washed our feet and headed to bed.Read more

  • Amie's AdventuresBorneo and Indochina Adventure
    Day 13

    National park

    October 16, 2016 in Malaysia ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    Dear travel journal,
    It was another long but good day today. I skipped the sunrise today and had a couple more hours sleep. Then Kirsty and I got up and and joined everyone for breaky, who was already up because they watched the sunrise. At breaky we all said happy birthday to maria and Kirsty and Jason gave her cards from home and Callam gave her one he made that we all signed. Poor Kirsty is a bit fluey today so she kind of took her time earlier on. Then we got sorted and headed out to the boat. We were off to Tanjung datu national park. This is one of the smallest national parks in Borneo at only a couple of hundred hectares, and is bordering on the Indonesian boarder. The entrance was on the Tanjong (cape) side. At the national park entrance is a visitors center where we all had to sign in and we looked around at the information, especially about the turtle conservation project. There was also a ranger station, a small turtle hatchery and some areas just back from the sea front with covered eating areas, open sleeping areas and kitchenettes. After the visitors centre we walked through a section of the National park that was about 500m through on a forest path to a more enclosed beach on the Malaysian side of the point. The is called a Talko (bay) merlano. The water was awesome, white sandy beach and overhanging trees. We put all our stuff up under the trees and jumped in for a snorkel. We were looking for ikan badut or clownfish or nemos as Alvin was calling them. He wanted us to watch the enenomies and see how many we could count. I would have to say I saw at least 30 different ones. I also saw lots of other fish, lots of different coral and a sea snake. After snorkelling we headed back to the ranger station side of the beach to the covered areas, had a quick rinse and ate a tasty lunch the chief had brought for us from the homestay. A ginger cat came to join us for lunch who looked so much like cricket. Alvin said he has been around for at least 10 years and thinks that he is related to cricket. They are almost identical even in personality. The only difference being that this one had boofy cheeks, where as cricket has almost a Siamese face. He was very sweet and after Alvin gave him some left over chicken he had a sleep lay between Alvin and maria. After that we all had a couple of hours free time. I walked around the main area, checked out the hatchery and then walked the length of the beach. At the far end of the beach (towards Indonesia side) were lots of massive rocks were, so down I headed. On the way the tide started coming in but I saw a few holes where turtles had laid eggs and the rangers have collected them and moved them to the hatchery. The main turtle they get here are green turtles. Apparently if I had kept walking and gone behind the rocks there was a nice spot where a fresh water stream meets the ocean. After checking out the rocks a little I headed back down the beach. And then it just absolutely bucketed down. I got soaked and headed back to where we had lunch. We waited out the worst of the storm and headed back over to the other beach to the boat. The tide had completely come in and the beach was pretty much gone under the waves. Back in the Boat we headed out to telok milano village. In the village we sat at a little Cafe and ate anchovies and small nuts on what tasted kind of like corn chips, and super fishy flavoured prawn crackers. The drinks where your regular tea, coffee, coke and 100plus (isotonic drink) but we also tried an energy drink with ginsing (which apparently you can't buy in borneo) and a drink named ABC, which is crushed ice, strawberry sauce, jelly, green stuff and condensed milk - which actually didn't taste too bad. Then we went for a little walk through the village. We stopped at the Desalination plant. Which had been set up with donated money but they have none left for maintenance so they have no filters etc for the silo's. So it just sits unused. then we walked past the fanorama home stay which looks quite fancy. On the way we saw a monkey tied to a tree. Its an old tradition of the area that they have coconut picking macaques. He probably belongs to an older villager and once he passes the monkey will probably not be used anymore as its a dying out tradition. The owner of the home stay has been seen however, net fishing in the national park with Visitors, which is illegal. Hunting off the land is still allowed by people who live of the land (traditional hunters). They are allowed to do so, to get what they need to eat but they don't in specific aread for the turtles. We also visited the school, where Alvin and chief meenad have been doing loads of work for years. Part of our money is going to the school to buy a projector for conservation and alvins groups are going to help build a new undercover play area for the preschool where they are going to paint the wall and have a turtle conservation theme. We waited at the school for the rain to die down a little but it was not giving up, so back in the boat anyways and headed back to camp. First thing I did when we got back was jump in the shower and put dry cloths on. Then we sat around for afternoon tea, another type of sweet soup that I wasn't a huge fan of, so I just stuck to tea and biscuits and we all sat around chatting, and hanging balloons for Maria's birthday, while calam and Sam sat with fahmi drawing. And then maria, Kirsty and I stole the drawing book and took over a page when he was off at the smokers table. We were going to head into the village and have a look around but arrived back too late and then we were going to head back to the national park for a night walk but the weather was not great so we had a night in. After another Amazing meal (which the chief always sits with us and joins us, which is nice). We had meat and fish cooked over the open fire. After dinner we cleared up and then the chief came out with a cake for maria, which Alvin had brought while we were sorting our stuff at basaga. It was a super tasty chocolate brownie type cake with 1 candle in it. It opened lots of conversation about birthdays. Alvin's birthday is on the 25th June. We also learnt the Malay, "Bela jari jadi parmi - when is your birthday? ". After cake we sat down with the local ladies and they helped us make necklaces and a couple of people made bracelets from shells. We all sat around chatting, drinking tea and coffee while playing with the shells. Then we all got sorted for bed and said good night.Read more

  • Amie's AdventuresBorneo and Indochina Adventure
    Day 14

    back to basaga

    October 17, 2016 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Dear travel journal,
    Last day in Borneo :( woke up around 5am and saw heaps of cloud cover, so not a good view of the sunrise, so i was back to bed for a couple of hours. Then it was up for breaky and Alvin made us ginger tea and then time to pack up. We all got too it and Packed our bags and cleaned our rooms. Then we all stood around with the people from the village who have helped us with cooking and shell necklaces and boat people and we all said our thankyous and goodbyes. Then Alvin got us to sing our 'tour song' again and then we all shook hands and the chief gave us a shell necklace each made by the ladies of his family. When the malay people shake hands they often use their right hand to shake and the left to hold the outside of your hand. And then with their right hand touch their heart. They do this because it signifies greeting/thank you with sincerity. And then we all took loads of pictures with each other, which was fun. After the goodbyes we took all our stuff and headed off down the beach to the boats. Callam, Sam and I were in the smaller boat with a bunch of stuff and everyone else was in the bigger one. I cannot believe how calm the ocean was for most of the journey. Crossing a section of the south China sea and the water was completely flat and went out for what seemed like forever. Once we got closer to the jetty we had to cross a sand bar and the waves where a bit choppy there, the boys kept slowly sliding to one side as they were bouncing around. Sam said he thought he saw something in the water and when we got off the boats Paul said he saw a splash and Anne saw a dolphin tail. The chief said that there are quite often pods of dolphins seen when crossing the channel. They get lots of bottle nose and black dolphins in that region. At the jetty the tide was out so we pulled the boat in as far as possible. Standing on the hull of the boat the bottom step of the jetty was just below shoulder height. A couple of people climbed up and then helped pull everyone else up. Once most people where out we stood in a row up the stairs and everything was passed in a chain up to the jetty. Once out we gathered everything together and went over to a local cafe. We had cold drinks, changed into dry cloths and ate chilli noodles which were tasty. Frankie met us for morning tea. Once again the strange whities walking around town got a lot of looks and attention. Once done we said our good byes to the chief and piled into the vans. From sematan, (the jetty) we headed off to soar, Sitar beach , lulu. This is a new spot that has been built by owners of the monkey bar (the guys that help run matang who run the great projects tour last time I was here. The monkey bar proceeds help with funding for matang). This expansion is actually more of a super fancy basaga. Its a small resort that opens out and looks over the beach. It will eventually have 40 rooms, a salt water pool and a restraunt and then looking over the ocean is an open bar. There is currently 1 Lady from Perth who has already been here for 2 months and a girl who, arrived today from Germany who will be staying 1 month who are helping to build the resort. Then off to lundu for lunch. The cafe was in a food court above a little market place. Then on to basaga. The drive back was fun, Sam, callum, Jason, maria, Kirsty and I played 'would you rather...'. And it started bucketing down. We had to cross the river on the barge which with the rain had the river really high. Just before we got back to basaga Frankie said he had a song for us and started playing Barry white - can't smile without you. Then when we arrived. We unpacked and said our good byes with Frankie and checked in. Back at basaga. We got all of our stuff together and unpacked everything, had a hot (well warm) shower and headed back down for dinner. Alvin and Christina joined us for dinner which was awesome. Then we all piled in the van and off to the monkey bar. We had such an awesome time which continued back at basaga. Then we said good bye to the boys and headed to bed. Can't believe its the last night :(Read more

  • Amie's AdventuresBorneo and Indochina Adventure
    Day 15

    goodbye borneo family

    October 18, 2016 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Dear travel journal,
    I'm having loads of mixed emotions today. Super sad because I really don't want to leave Borneo and excited to be starting a new adventure, tired from all the travelling and sick cause I'm pretty sure I have food poisoning. So glad I'm in this fancy hotel room with a real toilet for 3 days. This morning was up early to pack all my stuff. The boys left at 4.30am so they are already on a plane on their way home. Everyone else including Alvin and Christina had breaky together. We said goodbye to Alvin who had an ecotourism course starting today (I'm sure our group will be mentioned at some point) and Christina gave all the ladies bead bracelets she had made. Mine is awesome light blue shiny beads with orange in between. Mine was slightly too big so when I had a minute I just took some of the beads off cause I wanted it to fit properly so I could wear it always. Then I said my goodbyes (and we all managed to not cry) and Christina and jaargar (another of Alvin's tour buddies) drove me to the airport. Everyone else is flying out at 8pm so christina and jaagar will go back and take them out for the day. The whole way Christina kept holding my hand and arm and told me to make sure I keep in touch and come back. That's a definite. At the airport we hugged for ages while I was trying my hardest not to cry (tearing up now just thinking about it) and she started crying. So I grabbed my stuff and one last hug and disappeared into the airport, before I got back in the van and never left. Through check in, security and immigration and I was in the airport. I wandered around a little and had a little massage in a massage chair before boarding. This mornings in flight movie was 'how to be single'. Not quite what I expected but still good. The food options were fish and chicken but they they had run out of chicken when I was served (last I think) so fish it was. I wasn't real convinced about eating it but was hungry so I did (think this was what's not agreeing with me). Then just a couple of hours stop over at Kuala Lumpur. I don't think I have ever been there during the day before. Its weird with everything open and all busy and stuff lol. Every other stop over has been super early with nothing open yet, like 4am. So I wandered around a bit, exchanged some monies and found a huge Starbucks with huge windows looking out to where the planes were coming in. So I ordered a drink (iced tea with some weird fruit and honey - very tasty) and sat and watched for a while. Then time to board flight 2 - on to bangkok. Once boarded we were delayed about 40 minutes, so they handed out head phones and ice cream and we sat on the run way to wait our turn. I watched the end of 'indepance day' remembering I hadn't finished it on the way in and most of 'mike and dove need wedding dates'. Once at Bangkok I made it through immigration, collected my luggage and headed off to the taxi rank. I was starting to feel a bit crappy by this point and thought maybe it was just being tired and sad and not enough water. Jumped in a cab and just over an hour later made it to the hotel. It was touch and go for a while, my driver didn't speak english and the address i had was in English. He had a vague idea but not much of an idea lol. In the end I rang the hotel and asked them to talk to the driver and they gave him directions. In my room I managed to unpack and shower before the sickness really began. I took some charcoal tablets. Ordered room service (for when I wake up hungry at 2am) and crashed and burned. 12.30am I woke up feeling better, ate dinner, watched some TV, chatted with peeps from home and went back to sleep. What a day.Read more

  • Amie's AdventuresBorneo and Indochina Adventure
    Day 16

    hello bangkok

    October 19, 2016 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Dear travel journal,
    I feel heaps better today. Woke up at 9.30am and headed down stairs for breaky (lucky its open till 10am). After breaky I checked and replied to some important emails and booked a temples and city tour for tomorrow. Then I organised my washing (everything except what im currently wearing) and headed down to reception to organise getting it done. The guy at the tours desk said that he would organise it and to follow him (in his very broken English - most people here really don't speak much English, if at all). We left the hotel, walked down the road, turned into a side street and then into an alley and he knocked on a door. I could briefly make out 'dry cleaners' on the door. A young boy maybe 15 ish opened the door and spoke the best English I have heard so far. He said I can collect my washing tomorrow night at 5pm. Omg I hope I get it back or I literally have the cloths off my back and that's it. Lol - will make packing easy I guess. Then I gave myself a tour of the hotel - pool, gym, sauna and decided to be brave and head off for a walk. The streets are busy. Jay walking is the only way to do it apparently. The markets and street food were everywhere and there was the occasional whitie and new fancy shopping complex. Tut tuts and massage people were always wanting attention but they all took no for an answer. I felt really quite safe walking around. It was however super hot and muggy and with my belly I just wanted a nice plain sandwich. I found a nice little cafe on the ground floor of a fancy shopping centre, so I sat and ate a sandwich and berry frappe and continued exploring before heading back to the hotel. It is definitely a town with open sexuality, lady boys, street venders and crazy traffic. At the hotel I chillaxed a bit, had some down time and had a massage. It was good but interesting. She was literally on top of me on hands and knees at one point and their was no room for modesty... But helped with some of my soreness. Then I headed down to the restraunt and was the only person there lol. Ate dinner and headed back up to my room. Watched some TV (found Chicago fire :p), organised my stuff and crashed. Not a bad first day I would say xoRead more

  • Amie's AdventuresBorneo and Indochina Adventure
    Day 17

    old city tour

    October 20, 2016 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Dear travel journal,
    The holidaying begins. Borneo was amazing but we where there to help and learn and give feedback and make good impressions - of was awesome fun but we were kinda working and I had to use my brain. Now I'm just a random backpacker sight seeing in countries I have never been to before.

    I was up early today to pack and move rooms because I had a tour organised for the city and temples, with a hotel pick up at 8.30am. At 9am I rang to see where they were - they weren't coming, nice of them to say.... Any who I had a chat with the tour guide at the hotel, praco and he took me on a private tour out to the old city. On the drive out he taught me sa wat dee ka (hello - if your a female) and compookah (sounds not spelt like) (thankyou). It was interesting because I speak no Thai and his English is very minimal. He pointed out different buildings as we passed and told me they once had a massive flood down near the don muang international airport that had everything under about 5 meters of water, just from the sheer amount of rain in a wet season. That's a Brisbane type flood right there lol. We went through quite a few tolls, remember the old school stop and pay cash?? Yep they are everywhere! The old city was about an hour and a half drive outside of bangkok, and I honestly couldn't believe how big it is, the towering buildings go on for ever. Eventually you could see the skyline but everything was still built up for ages. Its not surprise the roads are soon busy 24/7. There must be a gazillion of people living here. Once we made it to ayuthaya. We first went to watyaichaimongkhol as our first old city site. There were lots of minks, Buddhist shrine and a massive temple. A walk up the stairs and I thought the opening would be quite big but it was quite small with 6 small buddahs and well in the middle people have put coins down. You could fit maybe 6 people while looking around at a squeeze. Then down a bit and the 'veranda' was quite big and ran around the entire Temple. The stone was was amazing, it would have been awesome to see before it fell apart. The main court yard with the temples and Buddha statue's had a high wall with smaller buddahs facing in towards to tower, the whole length round. There were also newer huts around the edges which I think the monks live in. Its an interesting mix of new and old. Then off to the giant golden Buddha at penungchueng. Out the front a massive marquee had been put up and school kids, monks, officials and military personnel where everywhere, to do a ceremony in respect for the king who has passed away. The king was king bhumibol adulyadej is was the longest reigning monarch in the world. He ascended to the throne 1946, although the last few years his health has deteriorated and his successor rama ix has been conducting the majority of the official business. Inside you could hardly get through the door with people kneeling to prey in front of the giant golden Buddha. Its huge. Smaller buddhas lined the walls, with offerings placed everywhere. Outside the main hall, where two smaller ones (still big) with status and offerings to other deities. Outside the main building where other buildings and tents set up with offerings so many different gods and goddesses and people scattered around the place at various shrines praying. Weirdest thing ever, monk in traditional dress - talking on a mobile phone - huh, modern advancements hey. After there it was onto 'wat maha that' another city section. It usually costs 50ba to get in but because they are in mourning over the king it's free today. This bit is huge and very cool. The perimeter has stone fences with some of the entrance archways still in tact. You can see the foundations of buildings and the remainder of still standing towers. And in one section there is a Buddha face showing out from between tree roots. The roots have started climbing the brick fence and take over. Not sure if there was any other parts of the Buddha but now it just looks like the tree has taken on the spirit of the Buddha. Very cool. Then off to lunch in a local cafe and off to 'Wat lokaya sutha' a reclining Buddha as our final stop. It was huge. They dress a lot of their buddhas, especially the ones laying down in a bright gold or yellow cloth. It stands out amazingly against the stone of the buddhas. Then back in the car and back to bangkok. The river that runs through this region comes all the from the sea through bangkok. That's a pretty epic distance. Back in bangkok at the hotel and I did some last minute shopping and prep. Collected my washing (yay its all still there and clean!) And then down to reception for the intrepid meet and great. The tour leaders name is Jane. And met my fellow travellers for the first part of the journey (Indochina unplugged is a few smaller length tours squished together, I'm just not getting off until the end). There are only 6 of us Dana, Nicola, Nadine, Micheal, euen and myself. Tonight I'm sharing my room with Nadine. A lovely lady from Germany who speaks quite good English. We are pretty similar in age and get along quite well. She is only on the trip for the first 2 weeks. In the evening we headed down to the foyer for our meet and great. Everyone seems pretty nice. Our youngest is 19 (girl from melbourn), then euan (nz), Nadine (German) and I are around the same age and then Micheal (Dublin) and Nicola (UK) are 40-50 ish. We headed up stairs for our meeting and on the way down our lift broke, lol yep welcome to the tour, step one we all get trapped in an elevator. It was quite funny. I think we maxed the 450kg limit with 7 people. Woops. The hotel guys pried open the doors and we were free after only like 5-10mins. Lol. After the meet and greet and paper work, Jane took us out for dinner. It was a little local place about 15 mins walk from the hotel. The food was quite nice. We all chatted and got to know each other a little. We have all done a bit of travel which is cool. Then back to the hotel and bed time. Ready for our city adventures tomorrow. Night.    Read more

  • Amie's AdventuresBorneo and Indochina Adventure
    Day 18

    bangkok is a huge city

    October 21, 2016 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Dear travel journal,
    Today we explored the sight's of bangkok. After a little sleep in we all met for breaky, moved all of our bags into two rooms and headed out into the big wide world. Down to the river taxi and we went for a bit of a boat ride down the river. We got off at the edge of China town and headed in to explore. We walked all through the markets with stalls packed in close together selling a million and one different things, food venders along the roads and a gold shop or two on every corner. Seriously you want it, it can more than likely be found somewhere in the markets. We tried tasty pomegranate juice and weaved our way through China town and down to a massive temple with the biggest gold Buddha inside and a smaller one with a smaller but still big Buddha. While we were there a lady had finches locked in tiny cages and it was 100 bar (thailand dollar) to give them freedom. I wonder if they ate homing pigeons or randoms that catch every day. Back through China town and onto another boat. Smaller local river taxi this time. These guys wait for no one, on and off really quick. We had to jump to make it cause the boat started taking off as we were getting on. Then we got off at the grand palace. The area was swarming with people, both military and civilian. The compound with the jade Buddha and golden temple are closed due to the mourning of the king. They had a memorial set up for locals out the front of the jade Buddha and they were very strict on who they let in the sign the memorial. There were stalls set up giving away free food and water and haircuts and all sorts and massive screens over an oval playing tributes and locals all watching and areas set up to allow people to sit and prey. People were giving out black bows. All thai are support to wear black for the period of mourning and if they aren't wearing black they should wear the bow on their shirt as tribute instead. Then we moved on to khon San road. Its the main backpacker areas with stalls and backpacker hotels and bars. Into a side street and through a door/passage way and into a cute little cafe and had a nice lunch. Then we jumped on a local bus for about an hr and half back to the hotel, which was quite fun. Back near the hotel Dana, euan and I walked through the markets and got some fruit and snacks, and water at the 7-eleven. And euan headed back to the hotel and we found Dana a vegan food stall where she got some take out for dinner. Back at the hotel we showered, packed up and headed down to the lobby. Once checkout we piled into a van and we were off to the overnight train to Chiang mai. Talk about hectic. Traffic was chaos and when we got there, there were just people everywhere. We got sorted and headed down to the platform. The train was running a bit late so we waited on the platform and I made everyone stand for a group picture. While we were there the national anthem came on. It is played at 8am and 6pm everyday over the TV, radio, police stations everywhere. Its the most surreal experience. Every single Malay stops, stands still where they are, sings the anthem to themselves and once its done just starts moving again and goes back to what they were doing. Not long after that we boarded the train. There are little sectioned off booths with two seats in each and one on either side of the carriage the whole way down. Its quite roomy really. We were all in the same cart but spread out so Jane sweet talked a bunch of people to move so that we could all sit next to each other. We chatted and had dinner off the train menu and at 9.30pm they came round and made our beds. The chairs slide down and made a bed and a top bunk flipped down from the wall and with sheets, blanket and pillow they were really quite comfy. They even have curtains across the front and window so its a little private cubicle. Our big bags are slid under the chairs our little bags with our pillows and we were good for bed. Train curfew is 10pm. No talking or walking around (except for the toilet). The toilets are interesting. There is strictly ni using a toilet when stopped at a station, wanna guess why? Yep, they open up straight onto the track... It's been an interesting day of local travel and culture. Let's see what tomorrow brings xoRead more

  • Amie's AdventuresBorneo and Indochina Adventure
    Day 19

    Chiàng mai

    October 22, 2016 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Dear travel journal,
    Well the overnight train was an adventure. It actually wasn't too bad comfort wise. It was quiet and I had more room then expected, although I do feel sorry for tall people cause it was just enough space for me. It was just quite warm and stuffy and i , like most of the group (except Dana - cause she can sleep anywhere) didn't get a good solids night sleep. I opened the curtains in the morning and just lay there watching the country side go past which was awesome. Then up at 6 to turn the beds back into seats and I went off to the toilet. Which was interesting because the window was open so you could see outside completely while sitting on the loo. Lol. After we got off the train we jumped onto rot daang ('red cars') which is just a red truck with bench seats in the back and a cover, no windows, doors and seat belts and drove to our hotel. After check in we all headed into town for a wander. We first stopped at this cute little cafe /hostel and had breaky which was really nice and then we headed into the old city and explored. We visited lots of smaller temples along the way and visited wat phra singh and wat chedi luang which had old ruins on the site (restored) which look amazing. Then we headed over to the Lanna folk life museum. Interestingly Chiang mai apparently speak a slightly different dialect to the rest of Thailand and although they mostly speak Thai as well they are like their own little section of the world. This area is known for its Buddhism and beautiful temples and for its copious number of rice farms. Rice farming is huge in this region. Our tour guide Jane was telling us that she grew up on a rice farm and when they weren't at school or sleeping they were working on the farm. They plant their rice at the start of the wet season as they need the rice to be submerged in water for the better part of three months and then its usually ready to harvest in Nov/DEC. A lot of farmers still farm by hand but some have moved towards using machines. There are two main ways of planting rice. You submerge the grains in water and wait for them to start germinating and then you can plant them until shoots, tie a few shoots together and replant them in the fields in rows which is better for long-term crop maintenance or just disperse them all and let them fall where they may. The processes at different for the different types of rice (egg// sticky rice). After the museum we headed back into the old city (which has some still being built buildings, its just the site of the original city with the corner stone walls and canals surround them will in place). We had lunch at a vegetarian cafe (Dana is vegan) which was tasty and caught a rot daang back to the hotel. We had a couple of hours down time, were i was boring and did some washing and lay around and then at 4pm we pilled back into a rot daang and headed out of town and up some epic windy roads which was fun. Think mount tambourine in the tray of a ute, but more tame, lol. We stopped at a look out point on the way up and saw Chiang mai from a height. It was pretty cool. You could see lots of green patches and lots of houses but no high rises like you saw in bangkok it was quite pretty. Then we continued up the hill until we reached wat doi suthep. It has a lookout that looks over the whole city, which was pretty at sunset and better at night. It shows Lana art and architecture and the gold-plated chedi which is huge. While there I partook in the old tradition of shaking a cup with numbered sticks and which one falls out first is your fortune. Mine was the ancient Chinese prophecy (wat inthakhin saduemueg #8) - the 8th number tells that you are lucky in everything. Be careful in your speaking and acting. Immuse from illness. Which actually is pretty much how I'm feeling at the moment. And then we sat and watched the monks do their initial rituals and start chanting. They sit and chant for 1 hour. We didn't stay the hour but it was very cool. Men can choose to be monks and choose what time frame they want to do it. Anyone under 18 is a novice and then over 18 they become monks. Novices only need to follow 10 rules of the Buddha where as monks need to follow all 230 odd rules. They must wear the orange robes and shave off all hair from their face and head (including eye brows). Women especially are not allowed to touch a monk even just their robes so we all have to be extra careful when walking around to not accidentally bump into one. Most Thai people follow Buddhism and try to follow the 5 main rules as a guide to life. No killing, harming, adultery, alcohol (most people fail this one), ,,,__. Females can become nuns and can follow the 10 rules of the novice but they have separate areas to monks and wear all white. There are temples known as inscription temples where the walls are filled with history and stories. Women are not allowed into most of these temples as we are considered dirty or unpure because we undergo mensuration. Its all very interesting. After we explored we headed back down to the hotel and headed off into the night markets for dinner. We ordered in a food court and all sat and ate together. Then Jane said goodnight and the rest of us explored the markets. I brought some more hippy pants (because its soo hot and muggy here!) Which I only managed to get 10ba off the price. But then I managed to get a top from 260 to 150 ba. So $4.50 isn't too bad for a nice hippy top that I can pretty much wear as a dress lol. The markets where busy and bustling and there were people everywhere, but apparently its still quite and its the first night they are open since the kings passing and there was no music in the stalls or bars because of the mourning period. It would be so different to see Thailand in full swing I think. Then after we all shopped we headed off to bed cause we have early starts tomorrow.Read more

  • Amie's AdventuresBorneo and Indochina Adventure
    Day 20

    elephants everywhere

    October 23, 2016 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Dear travel journal,
    This morning was an early one. Dana and Nadine got picked up at 6.30am as they were headed out to an elephant park somewhere to play with elephants for the day. The rest of us net at 7.30am and went down to a little local cafe for a quick breaky and then left at 8.30am to head out to FAE (friends of the Asian elephant) elephant hospital. These guys are said to be the first elephant only hospital that treats sick and injured elephants and then return them to their owners when they are well, for example after giving birth, eye infections, bloat etc. Or they keep them long term and retire them if they are not able to rehabilitate them. For example they have 2 elephants that are missing parts of their front leg from stepping on land mines that now have fitted prosthetics. The first of their kind in the world. One with a now deformed foot that does not require amputation post land mine incident, an aggressive older male who doesn't like people or other animals, and a premature little man who is now 6 but they are concerned about long term health implications. Elephants are usually pregnant for 18-24 months. This little man was born around 15 months and was too small to even be able to suckle from mum so he was bottle fed on goats milk. He is developing a bit slower then he should. Mum was taken back by the owner and he is now living in the hospital. He is a healthy looking cheeky little thing, but they are constantly monitoring him for changes. They have enclosures in which they can move around and during the cooler parts of the day they give them long leg chains and let them have free time out on the grass areas. They always have a leg chain on for the safety if the elephants and the keepers. Elephants can like up too 90-100 but the common age these days with like people are more like 70-80. They currently have 10 elephants on site. 5 permanent residence and 5 inpatients. They have 15 staff in total including 2 veterinarians. After the hospital we headed off to the conservation park because we were interested to see the difference between 'hospital and rehabilitation centre' and 'conservation centre'. But the hospital and nursery were closed today and none of use were interested in watching the elephant shows. So back into town we headed. We walked down the road from the hotel a bit and had some lunch and then were picked up at the hotel for a river cruise. Just euan, Nicola and myself this time. Its good that everyone feels that they can head off and do their own thing when they want to. The river cruise was awesome and better yet we were the only 3 people booked on it. The guide was lovely and the little cultural village we stood at was beautiful and the fruit they gave us tasted amazing. We also tried 4 different types of juice, tamarind (the nicest), ginger, lemongrass and longan, which had very interesting flavours and on one wall they had a list of he different remedies for common ailments. It was very cool. All along the river were people fishing, kids swimming and the progression from old to new was so obvious. It was an awesome relaxing afternoon. Some more down time in the arvo and a team meeting at 7pm to talk about what's happening the next few days and we headed off back into town and the market place for dinner. After dinner we headed down to the Sunday night market past all the bars and lady boys and small market stalls. We even saw a nice old car parked in front of a fancy hotel. The markets where insane. There were people absolutely everywhere. Everyone kind of split off into two. Dana and I got henna tattoos. I got a dream catcher on my right forearm and she got a lotus flower on the inside of her left wrist. Then we walked around chatting a little before meeting up with everyone else. On the way back to the hotel Micheal and I were playing a game we created called spot the lady boy. As you can imagine its easy to play. We walk past a bar front with people sitting all in a row out the front and we guess lady or lady boy. Its quite entertaining really. Once back we all crashed cause it has been along day. Night xoRead more

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